Gun compass attachment



May 29, 1956 F. J. KASZYNSKI GUN COMPASS ATTACHMENT Filed Oct. 25, 1952United States Patent GUN COMPASS ATTACHMENT Frank J. Kaszynski,Wilmington, Mass.

Application October 25, 1952, Serial No. 316,856

1 Claim. (Cl. 42-71) This invention relates to guns and to attachmentstherefor and more especially to attachment of a compass to a gun stock.

It is important for a hunter or Woodsman to have with him at all times acompass for it is quite easy for even an experienced Woodsman or hunterto become confused as to direction and become lost if not for aprolonged period at least for a sufiicient length of time to make itannoying and inconvenient. While the average conscientious hunter willcarry a compass in his pocket, it is very easy to forget to carry it orto lose it, accordingly it has been suggested that a compass might beattached to a part of his equipment, such as his gun. The attachment ofthe compass to a gun, however, is limited to the stock since if locatedon or near the barrel or breech the metal of the gun will spoil theaccuracy of the compass. It has been proposed to mount a compass on theside or top of the stock and according to one method of mounting a holeis bored in the side or top of the stock of sufficient depth to receivethe body of the compass case and the latter is then pressed into it,usually with a coating of adhesive so that it will stay in place. Whilethis is a perfectly effective way of mounting the compass so that itwill remain permanently attached to the gun it is highly objectionablefrom the standpoint of the fastidious hunter for the reason that hecannot endure the thought of boring a hole in the gun stock. In fineguns the stock is made of a high grade walnut, such stocks being handtooled to bring out the beauty of the grain and will cost in theneighborhood of two to four hundred dollars, sometimes much more. Theaverage owner of such a gun cannot abide the idea of tampering with thestock to the extent of drilling holes in it for attachment of a compassfor fear that through some inadvertence or lack of skill the stock maybe spoiled. Furthermore, many gun stocks contain within them a part ofthe bolt chamber so that metal runs rearwardly into the gun stock andthe proximity of this metal to a compass mounted on the stock spoils itsaccuracy.

The object of thisinvention is to provide means and a mode of attachinga compass to a gun stock without boring holes in the stock itself and insuch a position as not to be effected by the metal of the gun. A furtherobject is to provide a very simple means for attaching the compass tothe stock which will be inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install,permanent in its nature and will not deface or spoil the appearance ofthe gun in any respects. Most guns have a pistol grip and in accordancewith this invention the compass is fastened to the butt end of thepistol grip. As illustrated the conventional butt plate of the pistolgrip is removed and replaced by a plate of corresponding shape which hasa recess in it within which may be pressed a compass and a hole at thebottom of the recess through which a screw may be inserted for attachingit to the butt. The plate is itself comprised of a non-metallic materialsuch as a hardenable plastic and a non-magnetic screw such as brass orbronze is employed for fixing it in place. An adhesive may be applied tothe case prior to pressing it into the recess to insure permanentanchorage. Alternatively, the inside wall of the recess may be groovedand a rubber or other resilient ring set into it so as to frictionallyengage the wall of the compass when pressed into it.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the stock of a rifle or gun of the kindwhich has a pistol grip showing the attachment applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the attaching plate for anchoring a compass tothe pistol grip;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing thecompass receiving recess;

Fig, 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a plate showing a modified compassreceiving recess which has a locking groove in its wall;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the bottom side of an attaching plate ofmodified construction; and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings (Fig. 1), there is shown a gun stock 10 ofconventional shape comprised of walnut or some other fine, hard grainedwood which in accordance with best gun making practice has a pistol grip12 to which there is ordinarily attached a butt plate. In lieu of theconventional butt plate and in accordance with the present inventionthere is attached to the butt of the pistol grip a plate 14 whichcorresponds in shape to the conventional butt plate. The plate 14 iscomprised of a non-metallic material, for example, hard rubber or one ofthe commercially available plastics molded to correspond in shape to thebutt plate it is to replace. During molding a circular recess 16 isformed in its outer face of such depth as to receive a small compass 22.The bottom of the recess contains a central hole 18 through which may beplaced a brass screw 20 for fastening the plate to the butt of thepistol grip as shown in Fig. 4. It is important of course, that both theplate 14 and screw 20 for attaching it in place should be ofnon-magnetic material.

In order to secure close engagement of the edges of the plate with theend of the pistol grip, the plate is preferably recessed as shown at 24so that only a narrow margin of its undersurface has contact with thewood of the grip. As thus constructed the compass 22 is usually forcedinto the recess 16 together with a small amount of adhesive, the excessbeing wiped oil at the surface and under most conditions this willconstitute a permanent fastening.

If it is not desirable to cement the compass in place or if climaticconditions are such that cement would deteriorate to the extent ofallowing the compass to fall out, the wallof the plate as shown in Fig.5 may have formed therein a locking groove 26 for reception of aresilient locking ring 28. Such a ring may be in the form of a rubberband or other non-metallic resilient material placed in the groove sothat a portion projects beyond its surface. Thus when the compass caseis forced into the recess it will squeeze the ring into the groove andthe latter will frictionally hold the compass in place.

Figures 6 and 7 show a modified form of the plate wherein the recess 30at the back side of the plate is enlarged so as to extend part waythrough the plate and within this recess there is located an island 32having a hole 34 therein for the reception of the screw for attachingthe plate to the pistol grip. The island 32 forms the bottom of thecompass receiving recess 16 and is so located that when the latter isseated against it, its face will be substantially flush with the outerface of the plate. Radial arms 36 formed integral with the island 32 andthe walls of the recess 30 support the latter in place and form a rigidstructure. An advantage of this latter structure is that there is someeconomy in material and the plate is lightened somewhat Withoutsacrifice of strength.

The advantages of the attachments as distinguished from setting thecompass ease into the side of the stock or the top is that it is notnecessary to bore a hole in the stock and that when attached it appearsto be no more than the conventional pistol grip plate and therefore doesnot mar the appearance of the gun, that it is in an out of the wayposition so that it cannot possibly interfere with the firing or use ofthe gun, that it is located well away from the metal of the gun so thatit is not adversely affected and hence its accuracy will be unelfectedand that it is a very simple inexpensive and easily mounted attachmentwhich will secure the compass permanently in place without danger ofloss.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purposeof illustration only and that this invention includes all modificationsand equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

An anchor plate for attaching a compass to the butt of the pistol gripof a gun stock comprising a rigid nonmetallic plate of generally ovalshape having front and rear sides, said front side having a convexsurface simulating in appearance the surface of a conventional buttplate, a circular Well extending through the plate from front to rearfor receiving the case of a compass, and a groove in the wall of thewell for receiving a friction ring to hold the compass in the well, araised shoulder at the rear side of the plate extending marginallythereof, said shoulder providing a narrow annular bearing surface forcontact with the marginal edge of the butt, an apertured hub situatedcentrally of the back concentric with the well, the rear face of the hubbeing situated below the edge of the shoulder and the front face beingsituated at the bottom of the well and constituting an abutment againstwhich the bottom of the compass ease rests when seated in the hole, saidaperture at the front face of the hub being countersunk to receive thefilleted head of a non-ferrous fastening screw for attaching the plateto the butt, and radial ribs connecting the hub to the plate, said ribsextending from the hub across the back to the inner wall of theshoulder, the inner ends of the ribs being integral with the hub, theinner edges of the ribs being integral with the rear surface of theplate, and the outer ends of the ribs being integral with the inner wallof the shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,336,789 Jonsson Dec. 14, 1943 2,337,145 Albree Dec. 21, 1943 2,597,212White et al May 20, 1952 2,653,390 White et a1 Sept. 29, 1953 FOREIGNPATENTS 480,269 Germany July 31, 1929 445,323 Great Britain Apr. 7, 1936

